THE success of the Love Barrow Running Festival has been praised.

Cllr Kevin Hamilton, mayor of Barrow, hailed the role of the county council’s community development in the October 6 spectacular.

Life Leisure, which manages the town’s leisure centre, organised the event.

Cllr Hamilton said businesses, organisations and individuals had all come together and he extended his thanks to them.

“Hopefully, this will be the first of many,” said Cllr Hamilton, the Labour member for Risedale.

He proposed the council send a letter of thanks to Emma Broadbent of the Barrow community development team.

Cllr Tony Callister, the council’s spokesman for sport, called the event  ‘phenomenal’.

He said it attracted just short of 400 runners which was a good achievement for an inaugural event.

Local running group Walney Wind Cheetahs would be involved in looking to establish a regular 10k event for Barrow, he said.

Cllr Callister said: “It is a very special time to be involved in this town with everything that is going on.”

The event included a family-friendly ‘Mental Health Mile’ in association with MIND.